Not the time to be looking for work
If you're in residential construction, that is. The sector cut 7,200 jobs nationwide last month and nearly 57,000 jobs over the past year, the federal government reported today.
How does that compare? It's the worst November-to-November performance since Nov. 1990-1991, when employers were facing both a housing downturn and a recession. (Residential construction companies cut about 75,000 jobs then.)
On the upside, the current-day job loss is smaller than the layoffs during the early part of the 2001 recession. So far at least.
By the way, the monthly number I used is seasonally adjusted but the annual one is not, since there's no need to introduce the possibility of statistical error in the name of better monthly comparisons if you're looking year over year. In other words (to the tune of all the adults in the Charlie Brown specials): Wonk WONK wonk wonk wonk wonk.
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Comments
These numbers don't account for the large number of undocumented immigrants working for the construction industry, though, so the actual layoffs are likely much higher.
Posted by: Unaccounted For | December 7, 2007 4:25 PM